India’s Pranav Venkatesh Wins World Junior Chess Championship
by Devesh Jaganath | by Abdel Zairi
Venkatesh Beats Lavrencic To Win World Title
Chennai has long been considered the chess capital of India, and the Tamil Nadu district now has another superstar in its ranks. Pranav Venkatesh did his district proud last week by beating FM Matic Lavrencic at the 2025 Prague Chess Festival Masters, where he finished with an undefeated nine points from 11 rounds.
Venkatesh notched up seven wins and four draws at the international tournament, meaning he needed only a draw to win the competition. In the final, the 18-year-old made a bold move to sacrifice a pawn early in the match, which forced his opponent to opt for the Sicilian defence. However, the Slovenian challenger only managed to hold off the Indian superstar for 18 moves before conceding a draw.
With that victory, Venkatesh joins a group of prestigious company of players who have risen to become World Junior Champions. His triumph also brought an end to an almost two-decade wait for India to win the World Junior Championship title, having last done so with GM Abhijeet Gupta back in 2008 in Turkey.
Speaking after winning the competition, Venkatesh revealed that his next goal is to improve his overall rating and aim for the world championship gold. He added:
"It’s a very happy and proud moment to win the championship and be part of this group. I was very confident with my good form. I am happy with my play and felt I had good calculations."
Venkatesh won his first two GM titles at the Serbia Open in 2021 and the Vezerkepzo GM tournament in Hungary a year later. He earned the title of Grandmaster - becoming the 75th GM from India and 27th from Tamil Nadu - in August 2022, by winning the Limpedea Open in Baia Mare, Romania.
Check out the best online betting sites for chess tournaments!
Proud Day for Indian Chess in Prague
The tournament in Prague was a significant one for Indian chess, as two of the country’s best also secured gold ahead of Venkatesh’s triumph in the Junior Championship. Grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram was the first, winning the Masters Section of the Prague International Festival, which featured some of the most well-known players globally.
Among the entrants in the star-studded field were the likes of Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Vincent Keymer, Anish Giri and Wei Yi, but Chithambaram held his own in prestigious company and finished unbeaten in the Czech capital across the nine-round event with the assistance of his coach GM RB Ramesh.
Shortly after Chithambaram’s victory, it was the turn of Arjun Erigaisi. The 21-year-old won his third consecutive Freestyle Friday tournament in Prague, beating GM Denis Lazavik in the final. Erigaisi recently defeated world number one Magnus Carlsen in a Freestyle Friday tournament on chess.com and overcame Norway’s Lazavik in round 10, securing first place with 9.5 points.
